dawgenstein

We were unloading groceries from the back of our 1 month old GL320 and accidently hit the key fob that controls my house's alarm system and automatic garage door opener. Before I knew it, the garage door started closing and put a 1-inch long scratch on the liftgate of the vehicle. It is more pronounced than a key scratch--so it cannot be buffed out. But it is only about 1 inch long and is a straight line scratch less than the width of a pine needle.

However, I don't think we need to repaint the entire door--that would be overkill since this is bound to happen again in the next 5 years of ownership.

Anyone had any luck with the MB touch up paints? Are these available only at the dealer? Any other advice?

BlownV8

A body shop could do a spot job and blend the panel. It shouldn't be more than $250 and you won't be able to tell it was ever repaired.

iluvmys65amg

+1 I agree...I would surely have it done the right way so its fixed right.

BeanCounter

I feel your pain. About six months ago I closed my garage door before closing the hatch on my GL. After a long tirade of four letter words I finally got the courage to look at the scratch and our scratches sound pretty comparable. I got some touch up paint from the dealer and used it. Not a perfect match but not too bad either. It is really hard to tell I did it unless you are right on top of it. I am pretty fanatical about my cars but couldn't see spending more than a few bucks to fix a very minor scratch. I think the touch up paint was around $10. The way I figure it anyway I am probably going to get another scratch down the road anyway.

bselph

I did it too at about 1 month. Bought some touch up paint at the dealer and took it to a friend who airbrushed it. Looks great!

JDT1

Wow, it happened to me too a couple of days ago. I feel fortunate as mine is even more minor than what you all are describing. Every once in awhile, my liftgate seems to open on it's own. My GL was in the garage with the garage door closed. I was getting ready to head to the store when I opened the garage door using the control on the wall. It stopped about half way up.
When I went to check it out, there it was, the liftgate was opened and it stopped the garage door from going any further. A metal bracket on the garage door, caught only the lower edge of the liftgate and left two little scratches that can only be seen when the liftgate is open all the way. After a few select four letter words, I decided I was pretty lucky. A couple of small dabs of touchup paint should do the trick. I'll have to move a few things from the front of the garage so I can pull the vehicle in further to help keep it from happening again. I guess I'll have the liftgate checked, next time I take it to the shop.

JimBarnhart

+1 I did the same thing. I figured a coin or something must have rubbed on the hatch open button on my key. Then when I went to open the garage door - bingo, hatch stopped the garage door. I have a minor scratch, have some touch up paint, but haven't tried it yet.

CommanderCody

Seems that a lot of us have had this unfortunate mishap. In my case, I was unloading groceries, and I bumped the garage door opener key fob in my pocket, accidentally closing the garage on my lift-gate (just like dawgenstein). I was left with a similar size scratch.

The touch-up paint I got from my dealer worked, but wasn't an EXACT match to my paint, leaving a slight contrast to the covered-up scratch vs. the body panel. It's hardly noticeable, but I still cringe every time I walk up to it, because I know it's there. Perhaps I'll wait till I sell it to have a pro go over the vehicle and clean-up this and any other scratches I suffer during my ownership.

dawgenstein

What kind of equipment does one need to "airbrush" auto paint? Where should I look to find someone like this? I do know a good local shop in north Houston but they are used to dealing with insurance claims (hundreds of dollars for repaints).

Blk04cobra1

Consider it "broken-in" now...sorry to hear about the mishap, but the dealership should employee at touch-up guy, at least most of the one's Ive been to do. I would think it shouldnt cost any more than $100 from the sound of it.

dawgenstein

I came across this today in a car magazine. Anyone heard or used these kits before?

http://www.drcolorchip.com/

StevethePilot

Wow, that looks very cool! As soon as someone else is willing to be the guinea pig ... let me know!

B200Turbo

I had the same problem today come to the garage liftgate open partially and pushing on the garage doors luckily I did not push the garage door opener on the wall.
Just dent in the insulated garage doors lift gate is going for check up tomorrow morning.
I leave my keys hanging so no way it would open by me pressing the key.

bselph

My friend does touch up work in one of the GM plants and has airbrush equip at home. I didn't watch him do it so I am not much help.

Comfy_Couch

I ordered this a few months ago to repair a few chips on my hood after an unfortunately incident with a gravel truck. It did a pretty decent job of filling in the chip and the color match (black in my case) was perfect. I would recommend. I'll try to post some pics.

Comfy_Couch

I'll match your incident and raise you one. A few years ago, when my son was a newborn and I was in a chronically sleep deprived state, I walked into our detached two car garage via one open garage door, got into my 330xi, and then proceeded to back it up into the closed garage door behind it. The edge of the rusty handle on the garage door lined up perfectly with the trunk lid, making a very impressive scratch. The garage door survived, a little worse for the wear, but the whole trunk lid had to be repainted. And I can't blame that one on a key fob.

oknish

Just think of these scratches as adding character to your ride. Easier on the pride and definitely easy on the wallet.

Maybe at next meet we all compare the scratches, huh

slim nicky

Oh yeah! My kid got out of GL, left rear driver side door wide open and I drove into garage. Took me a minute or so to figure out what loud bang was about. Got some nice scratches on paint and door chrome protector to show. A couple of weeks later, added a nice scratch on hood when I was trying to move items in garage and squeeze between GL and wall.

I like the character theory Oknish. Gives it a tougher look too :-) And it's more flattering than reminding myself what a moron I am.

oknish

dawgenstein

Hey Comfy_Couch--thanks for the testimonial. I think I will give this product a try---the price is right anyway.

StevethePilot

"Hi, my name is Steve, and I've scratched my liftgate with my garage door."

(From the crowd) "HI, STEVE!"

I thought when Barbara was rear-ended and they replaced the bumper that they might think the rubbed spots were from the accident and buff them out, but no. Hey, unless you know where to look and you're close up, it's hard to see the marks, because of the rubber "seal" on the bottom of the door. That helped, but it was still covered in dirt and gravel and did scratch.

The whole thing needs a complete workover before I show it off to another GL meet.

STP